The biggest Vision company you never heard of

I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me at a rather dull conference. We went through the usual rituals about where we worked and what we did, and when I mentioned my interest in vision and industrial inspection his eyes opened wide.

“We do vision systems,” he offered.

Well I must admit to doing a double take. I knew they were a big name in controls and automation, but machine vision? Then it came to me; hadn’t they purchased NER, the LED lighting company, a year or more back? And wasn’t there some deal with RVSI AcuityCiMatrix?

So I had to ask, “Why aren’t Siemens making more noise about their vision products?”

My new friend shrugged his shoulders as if to say “beats me,” and I was left to wonder.

Siemens is huge, and they have a strong vision product offering, (click here) so why are they so quiet? Have you ever met a shy German? I’m sure they exist, but honestly …

The only explanations I have are: (1) that vision is such a small part of their total business it just gets squeezed out, and (2), they use their existing sales and distribution channels to get the product into the market.

And if it’s the latter, I’ve got to say, it isn’t working.